Its contribution to pre-tax profit is expected to climb to 13-15 per cent this year from eight per cent in 2012, Oigara said. The Burundi operation is said to have turned a profit in 2012 after launching in May that year.

The bank has been keen to establish a Pan-African operations and last year mentioned plans to raise funds through a secondary public share offer to enter central, western and Southern Africa market.

“We want to pause a bit and look at our subsidiaries to help them contribute at least 25 per cent of revenues,” Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi told the Business Daily on the sidelines of the lender’s AGM on March 27.

Profits from KCB’s foreign subsidiaries increased 8.3 per cent to Sh1.2 billion in the year to December as those of Equity Bank nearly doubled to Sh1.08 billion from Sh552 million in the same period.

But KCB will be the first lender to eye markets outside the EAC market. In Ethiopia, it will be taking advantage of Addis Ababa’s move to allow Kenyan lenders to open representative offices—which allows local banks to lend but not gather deposits.